The real reason the US is seizing oil tankers and Ukraine is blowing them up

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The “Tanker War” is back, and this time it’s playing out through sanctions enforcement, tanker seizures, and drone attacks on oil shipping.

In December 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard seized the crude tanker M/T Skipper after it departed Venezuela. Since then, U.S. forces have pursued and intercepted additional Venezuela-linked, sanctioned tankers as Washington ramps up maritime enforcement against sanctions-evasion shipping.

At the same time, Ukraine has expanded attacks on Russia’s oil shipping, using sea drones to hit “shadow fleet” tankers in and beyond the Black Sea.

In this video, we break down the 1980s Tanker War, how the U.S. got pulled into escort duty (Operation Earnest Will), how it escalated into Operation Praying Mantis, and what the new wave of seizures and tanker strikes says about modern maritime conflict.

Written by: Kyle Gunn

Edited by: Savvy

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